No Formaldehyde In Baby Shampoo, Clears Guj FDCA

May 9, 2019

No presence of formaldehyde, a carcinogenic compound, was found in samples of baby shampoo of a renowned multi-national company that has faced immense controversy and coercive action by NCPCR in at least five states. The action was taken after routine test samples in Rajasthan were found to allegedly contain traces of carcinogenic ingredient two months ago.

The Food and Drugs Control Administration (FDCA) in Gujarat has essentially cleared Johnson & Johnson’s baby shampoo product a month after samples were collected on urgent basis for testing in light of the Rajasthan Drugs Controller allegedly finding traces of formaldehyde in the same. The company, in a statement on its website, denied using formaldehyde as well as using any ingredient that releases formaldehyde in the product over time.

Documents accessed by Mirror show the government analyst at the Food and Drugs Laboratory in Vadodara confirming that all five samples of the shampoo, checked for the presence of Formaldehyde, were found to be negative.

The document states, ‘The sample does not reveal the presence of Formaldehyde’. These five letters, containing results of sample testing of the product, and dispatched to three Drugs Inspectors in Surat from where the samples were collected, were accessed by Mirror and all five state that formaldehyde was absent in all samples. While three samples of 50 ml, 100 ml and 200 ml were received by the lab on April 20, two 100 ml samples each were received by the lab on April 29. According to the test results accessed by Mirror, the samples were tested for ‘identification of formaldehyde’ based on the manufacturer’s method. The remarks therein are ‘Tested qualitatively for the presence of Formaldehyde and is found absent’.

Dr Hemant G Koshia, Gujarat Food and Drugs Commissioner had on April 2 commissioned an urgent testing of the products samples from the market in Gujarat. Speaking on the results, he told Mirror, “Yes, the test results have all come back negative. No formaldehyde has been found in any sample of the shampoo. The product meets all Indian standards of manufacturing.”

On its website, the company has stated, “We unequivocally maintain that our products are safe and our assurance process is amongst the most rigorous in the world, meeting or exceeding the safety standards in every country where our products are sold. Johnson & Johnson is in full compliance with current Indian regulatory requirements and standards for manufacturing and testing of all our products.”

The company also stated it had appealed the results pf the drug laboratory in Jaipur. “We have contested the interim test results of the government analysis that were based on unknown and unspecified methods. Following due process under law, the application before the relevant authority is pending for re-testing of samples at Central Drugs Laboratory.” – Ahmedabad Mirror